Why the Buffalo Roam

Bison are flourishing again on the plains--because we like to eat them. Thoughts on a paradox

By John Cloud/New Rockford Thursday, Mar. 15, 2007
    • Carlo Allegri / Getty Images

    Jim Sautner reads in his living room with his trained buffalo Bailey on April 5, 2004, in Spruce Grove, Canada.

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    I had trouble eating bison for a while after seeing the heifer die. There's a better way: the usda has developed regulations for shooting bison in the field. When shot from a distance, the animals don't know what hit them--bison famously don't even run when their herdmates start falling from gunshot. Under the regulations, an inspector must attend the kill and the animal must be transported to a usda butchering facility within the day. Your bison burger would cost more if it came from an animal killed this way. But it would be a small price to pay not only to save a species but to finally respect it too.

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